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109. Wounded Beasts
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
The Alpha King's Curse 110. Feeling Useless
Blood. There was blood.Jackson froze, unable to fathom that such a horrible thing was happening. All the noise around him faded to the background as he tried to concentrate on the little heartbeat. Still there. But was it fainter?He sucked in a breath and tried to concentrate. Everything in him went numb. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t think.Someone grabbed Layla’s arm from the side. Cain reared forward, his whole body filling with rage as a growl left his lips. The sound was low and guttural, a warning that promised death if anyone defied him. Immediately they all fell back as the tables turned. They hadn’t had any power over him from the beginning.“Stop! For fuck’s sake, stop! Have you lost your damn minds?”Dylan’s voice pulled him from the horror going through his mind as he focused on the little heartbeat hiding behind Layla’s. His Beta appeared beside his mate and then Micah on her other side. The scent of their blood mixed with his and Layla’s. Both men were bloo
The Alpha King's Curse 111. Priorities
Layla wiped the steam off the mirror to look at her face. It was rounder than usual, but that was expected with pregnancy, she supposed.It was also to be expected that she wasn’t allowed out of bed.She rolled her eyes just before the knock came on the bathroom door. Wasn’t she allowed to soak in the tub in peace? She wrapped a towel around her hair and then grabbed another to dry her body. She stopped at her slightly rounded stomach and put her hand over it. As she did every morning, she silently begged for forgiveness from her unborn child. And like every morning, she wasn’t sure what she was apologising for. From all the whispers she heard around the pack, she knew this child was causing waves. The future king or queen. Jackson’s heir. But she still couldn’t wholly reconcile with the fact that they expected her just to leave her baby. The knock came again, drawing her out of her thoughts. “Layla? Are you ready?”She sighed and wrapped the towel around herself.“Yes.”The door o
The Alpha King's Curse 112. Decisions
Jackson stopped at the start of one of the trails into the woods and clenched his fists. Why the fuck was he even bothering? It had been just over a month since a mob had set on her daughter, and that fucking woman hadn’t even bothered to make an appearance. He ran through the woods every morning with the same result. What kind of mother did that? Why did she show up at all if she wasn’t there to help?Layla needed to know who she was. He needed to know. She’d picked up the things he had taught her so quickly as if it had been her nature all along, and she was getting stronger. Every morning, when she was asleep and not guarding her mind, he sensed the presence of something greater within her. How would he teach her to hide it if he didn't know what it was? Her mother was still in his woods, hiding under their noses. Couldn't she teach her how to do the same? Without that, Layla would get caught before his body was cold.He growled and turned away from the trail to head for the gate
The Alpha King's Curse 113. A Familiar Scent
Jackson took another moment to regain his strength before he started walking home. Blood oaths required powerful magic; they tended to take a lot out of the people who did them. It had taken too long to convince Chase that it was the right thing to do, and in doing so, he may have said too much. Chase probably thought he’d gone mad, but there had also been a small amount of pity in the air. At least it was done now. Layla and his child would have someone else protecting them besides Dylan, Diedre and Micah. But he’d been out too long. His anxiety had been a bitch lately, especially with him waiting for the doom he was sure was coming. He didn’t like being away from Layla. It took him longer than he wanted to walk back to his territory. He’d never done a blood oath with anyone before, so he hadn’t expected it to knock Cain off his feet and make him feel weak. He was about to walk out of the forest when he caught a weak scent in the breeze. He tensed and sniffed the air. With Cain o
The Alpha King's Curse 114. A Visitor
Layla held the silver chain with both hands and then looked up at Jackson. Jax, as Dylan kept calling him. It felt weird on her tongue because calling him by that name suggested they were closer than they were. “Nothing? No tingles?” Jax asked. “Nothing.”Jax’s body relaxed as if he had been expecting the worst. “This is one of the ways the Hunters like to torture us,” he explained as he took the chain from her with his bare hands. She frowned at his words as she watched him place the chain back in the box he had brought up to the bedroom after her breakfast. “How?”“Silver poisons us. They use it as a test when they suspect someone is a werewolf,” Jackson answered. “It’s debilitating. It burns and goes into our systems. If we’re exposed to it for too long, it poisons our whole system, and our organs shut down. It’s a terrible way to die.”Jackson said it casually, as if he were explaining how to bake a cake. She had to keep reminding herself that this was real; this was the life
The Alpha King's Curse 115. Rebecca
He hadn’t heard or sensed her coming up.He’d felt the bond pulling him back to Layla, but he hadn’t heard her. He’d only realised she was there when Rebecca looked around him. For the first time since she had known about her hiding in his woods, all of Rebecca’s emotions smashed through whatever mask she kept them hidden behind. He turned back and saw Layla leaning against the house. And then the blast of emotions he sensed from her surpassed her mother’s. Shock. Anger.Betrayal.He sucked in a breath and stepped towards her, but her eyes began to flicker. Even from a distance, he saw her fist clench at her side before she pushed away from the wall and threw him a scathing glare.And somehow, he felt like he was the one in trouble. He turned back to Rebecca and found her already walking back into the woods.“Are you fucking serious right now?” he growled. “I’ve already messed up,” Rebecca muttered without turning back. He jogged after her, knowing her penchant for disappearing.
The Alpha King's Curse 116. Is This The End?
Layla was still in a daze a few days later. Jackson had been walking with her every afternoon since she had seen him with her mother, but she was constantly losing herself in her thoughts. She couldn’t appreciate being outside.Her mother had been there all along.Her mother was the red wolf that everyone had told her was imaginary.And she was going to turn into a werewolf.She looked up at Jackson, who seemed to have his attention on something else. Maybe all the chatter going on in the town that she hadn’t been able to block out because she was distracted. “What about Brit?”“Rebecca disappeared before I could ask her anything, and I haven’t found her again since. She only comes out when she wants to be seen.”Typical.“Maybe I should bring Brit here—”“She’s safer where she is.”She called and texted Britney daily, and her sister seemed to enjoy the new residence. She hadn’t mentioned her fear of her bodyguards and Jackson again, but she knew it would still be on her mind. She co
The Alpha King's Curse 117. The Alpha King
When Jackson sensed the danger approaching, he assumed the Circle had finally come to get their revenge. But when he shifted, he sensed the more ominous scent of death. This was the witch’s doing. Had she come to fight him herself this time? The magic felt a lot stronger than it usually was.He was already at the main gates when the warriors on lookout duty sent the alert of intruders approaching. Plural. More than one. And yet all he could sense was the dark magic as a large, single entity. The guard opened the gate for him and then closed it while his warriors started to assemble and prepare for the attack. He didn’t want to waste any time. If they breached his boundaries, he would lose more people. He would fail his pack again; he couldn’t allow that to happen. But the scent of death was around his whole territory. They had somehow surrounded them, and he hadn’t noticed.What the fuck was going on?‘Stay inside and defend the boundaries. Concentrate on the areas that were easi
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The Alpha King's Curse 164. Grateful
Jackson grinned when Dylan rolled his eyes at him as Hope led him by the finger to the tea party she had set up in the garden. “Enjoy your party,” he called to them before he turned and walked toward the packhouse. The trainees had the day off today, but he was pleased that most of them took their training seriously and were sparring in the fields. All the kids had to grow up quickly after the last war. In a few days, they would all hold a memorial honouring all the people they had lost. Gavin walked up to him before he reached the door. “Everything is all set, Alpha,” he said. Gavin was the most prominent reminder of what the war had cost him. He’d had to fill Micah’s big shoes. Though it wasn’t his fault, his heart cracked whenever he saw Micah’s replacement as the Gamma. “Thank you. We’ll be ready in time,” he said with a nod. The packhouse was spotless as usual, awaiting all the guests he had invited. As he walked toward the stairs, Faith’s mother walked in, a huge sm
The Alpha King's Curse 163. My Queen
Layla clutched her heart and fell to her knees. Hope started to cry behind her, as if her poor child could sense her pain, too. Faith tried to soothe her, but there was too much fear in the air, too much pain. “Jackson is hurt,” she whispered, looking at her mother. She had held out long enough. The house was full of all the vulnerable people in the pack, and their fear and anxiety weighed down on her. She couldn’t wait any longer. Rebecca walked over to Faith and took Hope from her. And her little girl instantly quietened in her grandmother’s arms. Rebecca met her gaze and nodded. “I will look after Hope. And I will protect everyone in this house,” Rebecca said, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Her mother knew what she had to do. She couldn’t leave Jackson to fight alone, but if anything happened to one of them, it would happen to the other. “Can I trust you, Mum?” she whispered. She hadn’t called her mum since the day she had abandoned them. “Always,” Rebecca whis
The Alpha King's Curse 162. Brothers
The dark clouds completely covered the sun. Jax stood at his lookout rock and looked over the forest. Even the witch was closing in from that direction when it was supposed to be their safest. He could sense her magic filling up in it even though he couldn’t sense any individual wolves. It was like when she’d sent the rogues who had hidden in the shadows right under their noses. His warriors wouldn’t sense them until it was too late. ‘The women and children are in the packhouse,’ Dylan said in the mind link. He didn’t know if that would make a difference. The strength he could sense in the magic around him was something he had never experienced from the witch before. He could feel it in the clouds above him, in the air they were all breathing. He could feel it rippling over his skin, yet they had not reached their boundary. Cain was silent in his head, already in hunting mode. But he couldn’t hunt everywhere at once. They were surrounded by armies bigger than any that had ever
The Alpha King's Curse 161. Dark Clouds
The air was knocked out of her lungs as Layla landed in a heap in the field. Everything hurt. Jackson had been pounding into her for hours. ‘And not in a good way. How the hell are you getting worse at this instead of better?’ the voice in her head said. Since Jackson had marked her, that voice had become a more permanent feature in her head. She’d been able to shut it off before, but now it was impossible. She was constantly arguing with it and losing focus, and her ability to control her emotions was also on the fritz. Her moods were yo-yo-ing worse than when she’d been pregnant. “You’re distracted.” She lifted her head with the bit of energy she had left and looked at Jackson, who was glaring at her from the other side of their makeshift ring. “I’m tired,” she corrected. “Let’s take a break.” “We can’t, Layla,” Jackson growled. He marched across to her and helped her to her feet. “You pissed off the Circle, and I pissed off the Wicked Witch. It was fine when our sins were
The Alpha King's Curse 160. Angelic Singing
Angelic singing. It drifted in and out of his ears and tried to force him from his peaceful slumber. It was beautiful but it was pissing him off. Why did anyone have to sing so much when people were trying to fucking sleep? His eyes shot open. His heart slammed in his chest. Could it be? He turned and saw the face he had fallen asleep next to because it was the last face he wanted to see before he died. Layla’s mouth was slightly open and she was snoring softly. He sat up with a jolt and listened to the singing. Those weren’t angels. That should have been his first clue. His soul had been damned long ago; there were no angels in his afterlife. “What are you doing? Come back to sleep,” Layla mumbled. It took her a few more seconds, but Layla jolted awake and her eyes widened as she looked at him. She sucked in a breath, her heart hammering to match his. Maybe he was dreaming. Perhaps he wanted this so much that he was dreaming about it just before the curse snatched his l
The Alpha King's Curse 159. Happy Birthday, Jackson King
Jackson watched the sleeping baby in his arms and blinked back his tears. He was leaving his precious little girl in chaos. All his efforts to find the witch had failed. She’d disappeared after Amber and Miss Roberts had failed. He assumed the witch knew there was no point now. She’d already achieved her goal of making the rest of his life miserable. “I’m sorry, Hope,” he whispered. “I know you’ll become a better person than I was, even in any adversity. Do you know why? Because you also have your mother in you. You are going to be magnificent.” The more he said it, the more he would believe it. But it was hard to see any such future in a helpless three-month-old. “What the fuck was I thinking?” His chest squeezed as it had done all day. “It’s not your fault.” He looked up to see his mate in the bathroom doorway, a vision in a green, body-hugging dress. It had thin straps, so his mark was on show. For a second, he felt pride in it. But he remembered it was nothing but a death s
The Alpha King's Curse 158. We Effed Up
Jackson wasn’t too worried about Hugo’s threat. Since Diedre had started feeling better, she had been working hard to remove all the traces of dark magic around their territory. Her well of magic seemed to run deeper, even though it was not yet fully replenished. Warding the whole territory had been beyond her before Layla had healed her. But all the entry points had been fortified. Her magic wasn’t as it used to be but strong. Nobody would enter through his gates without his permission. Even if Diedre’s magic didn’t work on him and Layla, it had to work for the rest of the pack. Right? He was more worried about what the hell Layla was doing there. She should have been home with Hope and the others. Especially since he’d already warned her that the Circle was worse than any Hunter she would ever meet. Layla seemed intent on breaking all his rules. He was about to tell Hugo they had wasted their time when he sensed the rage rising in his mate. It was so dark it felt like Cain’s
The Alpha King's Curse 157. Something's Changed
Layla opened her eyes and stretched. And then she remembered what she had done. She sat up and looked at the other side of the bed. Jackson hadn’t come back, though she could sense he was close. And he was angry. Rightfully so. She lay back and pulled the covers over her naked body. Her hand went to her neck, and she felt the grooves left by his teeth. She’d assumed his bite would heal like all her other injuries. Maybe that was why they called it marking. Would everyone be able to see it? It tingled when she ran her fingers on it, and though the way she had got it made her cheeks heat up with shame, she didn’t regret it. She had known he would react like that. She would have been livid in his shoes. If he never spoke to her again, then she would understand. But she would never have forgiven himself if he died and she could have saved him. She’d had no choice. She sighed as she pushed the covers off again and slid off the bed. She started walking toward the bathroom, but her st
The Alpha King's Curse 156. Different
Everything felt different. The longer he lay on the rock, the more he sensed the differences. Everything was sharper, as if there had been a veil on his vision before. The stars were so clear he felt like he could touch them. The air was sweeter. The chirping of the birds as they woke up to get the worm... Beautiful. Fucking beautiful. And the rage in his heart eclipsed it all. He’d told her. He’d said no over and over again, even before she had known what his bite would do. And she’d gone ahead and violated his trust. Violated him. ‘She was never going to give us up without a fight,’ Cain stated. ‘Stop talking like you knew it was going to happen. This isn’t Romeo and Juliet. We don’t have to die together!’ ‘What would you have done in her shoes?’ That question cooled some of his anger. He knew what he would have done for his love. He’d have moved heaven and earth to save her. He’d have crossed any ocean, climbed any mountain. But this wasn’t about him! “I’ve killed her,”
